Nicola discovers "the real world"

Brian Taylor of BBC Scotland interviews Deputy FM Nicola Sturgeon.

Wriggling like a good'un, Ms Sturgeon explains why the SNP Government is wonderful and responsible for...well... nothing really....certainly nothing unpopular......it's own entertainments licence legislation, steel for the Forth road bridge purchased furth of Scotland, the collapsed banks, joining the Euro or retaining Sterling gay marriage, the SNP's tendency to call its opponents "anti-Scottish, defence policy. Clarity escapes, responsibility diffuses, problems dissolve, Brigadon is invoked, Denmark exalted, Norway eulogised (Iceland? Ireland? anathema...) magic wands are waved. And blame is placed. Anywhere but Holyrood.

Nicola finds time, inter alia, to criticise other people for saying that "Scotland is too wee and too poor" to survive in "independence" when no-one, except herself, even had a fleeting thought hinting at that position thus confirming my previous observation that it's always the Nats that bring this red herring into any conversation. Freudian transference personified.....

Nicola also finds (18 minutes in) that England would have helped bail out the failed Scottish banks and so saved an "independent" Scotland from bankruptcy. And, did you know, an "independent" Scotland would help the English bail out Barclays if it failed.

Hurrah for England! Hurrah for "interdependence"!

Nicola calls this "the real world".

You can't help thinking that, in the real real world, if "interdependence" is the best solution to the banking and other crises, why would any sane person claim that "independence" is better for the Scottish people? But, y'know what? Nicola didn't give any convincing reasons....

Biased BBC.....

...is the call we frequently hear from the SNP and Tories.... A lot of lefties cry our  Conservative friends, wet liberals preparing for a Marxist state..... you often get the impression that many Tories would like to see the back of BBC News and Current affairs... they ask too many pointed question, dont'ye know...

...Scottish establishment Labour stooges, cry the Nats. They're out to do us down at every opportunity and puff up Labour. It'a cosy unionist cabal....

I wonder what the Tartan Tories and the real McCoy would have said if their spring conferences were barred from live broadcast by the BBC? Would Eck speak only to the faithful? Would he heck! Would  Dave travel all the way from Kensington to speak to the yokels if Live TV wasn't on offer. Yoiks to the oiks! he would cry, I'm orff!

Seriously, this is a strange decision by the BBC in Scotland. The excuse (that Labour's autumn conference was covered live) is weak. There wasn't an election campaign on in the autumn but there is now.

I knw that the BBC is committed to "balance", but to cover all the conferernces live, except for Labour, is an extraordinary decision and hardly balanced by any sane definition.

I can just hear Annabel and Eck phoning in their protests to the Controller Scotland: "Not fair my man. Hardly balanced and democratic.. we insist that Labour gets equal treatment with us...".

Has James got his Application in Already?

Sir Michael Lyons is to step down as the head of the BBC Trust, the body that oversees the the BBC's operations and ensures its independence from government.

Given the Culture Minister's well known antipathy to the BBC, and the ConDem government's closeness to the Murdoch empire, not to mention its barely concealed desire to neuter the BBC, break it into pieces and let Murdoch pick up the profitable bits, is this the perferct job opportunity for James Murdoch...?

Cameron: Inheritence Tax Only a "Small Amount of Money"

An audience member at the Leaders' debate, one Keith Bevan,  asked DC why he didn't answer questions on inheritence tax. To which the apparent reply was "It's only a small amount of money"...




As told to the BBC today. Strange it's not a lead story anywhere.....

The Future of the BBC Should be a Big Election Issue

The Observer reports that at least 50 prominent actors have signed a letter attacking Conservative plans for the BBC. David Tennant, Eddie Izzard and others claim that the Conservative position "threatens to devalue not just the BBC itself, but our culture as a whole", urging voters to consider the consequences for the corporation on polling day.

I would go further, and I have done so in direct conversations with BBC senior executives. I believe that the Tories have an agreement, formal or not, secret or not, with the Murdoch empire that, if the Tories win the election, the BBC will be attacked, weakened and perhaps made to divest of parts of its organisation, such as the much admired and successful BBC website and some radio or TV stations. The Murdoch empire will benefit by the weakening of a broadcasting rival and in furthering Murdoch's online ambitions by removing the BBC website as an obstacle to those ambitions.

I raised the matter during an interview I had on the weekly Newswatch programme with the BBC but I got no direct response, and that portion of the interview was edited out and never broadcast.

The Murdoch empire has been one of the least savoury influences in the degradation of the news media in the UK and in the USA. It's actions have been purely commercial and never taken in the interests of society, the country or any observable moral or ethical goal. The profit and growth of the organisation have been paramount, codes of accuracy or impartiality or morality have been notable by their absence from Murdoch's output.

The BBC, on the other hand, is one of the best, most respected and most impartial news organisations in the world. It produces a wide range of excellent factual and entetainment programmes on television and on radio and it has a world-renowned website. It is one of the best loved institution in Britain and a flagship of British culture and integrity abroad. It is a benchmark organisation in its field.

If the Conservative's win the election it will be the signal to the Murdoch empire that it is open season on the BBC. IMO, the BBC is too good a broadcaster and too precious a national institution to be damaged, diminished or even lost in the interests of privatisation and profit. And the Murdoch empire is too malign an entity to gain such a victory over the BBC.

The actions of the 50 TV actors  would tend to indicate that they have similar concerns.

There are many reasons, economic, social and ethical to reject the Conservatives. In my opinion the danger to the BBC from a Conservative/Murdoch victory is not the least of these.

Question Time and What to Make of it

It's Make Up Your Mind Time....

In recent years I have not been a great fan of Question Time.

For a start, I frequently go for a pint with some old friends on a Thursday, so I miss it a lot of the time. But when I have seen it, there's been a sort of pent up hatred of politics and politicians, a knee jerk cynicism and  urge to blame that cuts across any reasoned position that the panel might want to take. Perhaps understandable given the events of the last few years with expenses scandals and unpopular wars and recessions. And of course, this emotional-spasm-personal-grudge approach to the issues favours the likes of the Tories and UKIP. It suits them to whip up fear and loathing and keep the focus off their policies, such as they are.

But my wife loves it and when I'm at home it is usually on. So last night I sat down to watch it, but with no real enthusiasm. I was pleasantly surprised. The programme was broadcast from London, and it was actually quite balanced. 

The panel was Boris Johnson (Tory), Carol Voderman (who is quite openly Tory too), Will Self (novelist), Shirley Williams and Andrew Adonis. Even with two Tories and Will Self, who is quite a contrarian and entertaining with it, the audience wasn't led astray, they stuck to the real politics. In fact I would say that the audience was the star of the show.

Boris was trying his old charmimg fool schtick, but it's running a bit thin, and the fool noticeably outweighed the charmer. As for Carol Voderman, not a lot you can say with the libel laws as they are.


Andrew Adonis and Shirley Williams were measured and sensible, and David Dimbleby was revealed as a Buller! Just like Bo and Dave, waddyaknow....?

And there were no knee-jerk anti-government or anti-politics cheers. The audience seemed thoughtful and were certainly not baying for blood. On the Aschroft affair and the Bulger case they were, if anything, more measured than the panel, certainly more measured and intelligent than Carol Voderman.

As I say, the audience was the star: they asked good questions and made good comments and responses, without showing too clearly thieir own political inclinations. The over-all impresion I got was of the public weighing the options and making up its collective mind.

Ten weeks to go and all to play for.... Looking at the polls even three months ago, whodda thunk it?

The Tories, The Sun and the BBC

I know it's a bit old news now but last week, when the Sun was attacking Gordon Brown for writing personal letters to bereaved relatives of military casulaties, I was more than puzzled by the BBC's slavish following of the Sun's agenda. The BBC got a lot of criticism from its viewers for that approach, and it was featured on their Newswatch programme.

The most difficult aspect for me to swallow was that there is an obvious agreement between the Sun and the Tories: the Sun will back the Tories between now and the election and in return, if the Tories get elected, they will neuter the BBC. They have already threatened to remove the BBC's Royal Charter.

This neat little plot helps the Tories with electoral support and it helps the Murdoch empire to weaken a media competitor.

The real puzzle for me is: what's in it for the BBC? Why "give comfort to the enemy" (the Sun) by publicising its stories, when that enemy is out to damage you by any means possible?

I actually complained to the BBC and got to speak to a senior BBC News Editor on this, but I have to say I got no satisfactory answer.

I wonder if this is the last time we will see the BBC and the Sun come together in the run up to the election?...

Keep yer eyes peeled...